My phone lit up on the bedside table. I reached for it, clicking on the text from Wizard.
Call me.
Well, fuck. I sat up and leaned against the headboard. I dialed Wizard and he answered immediately, foregoing his usual greeting.
“What the fuck did you get mixed up in?” he asked.
“I take it you found something.”
“Phoebe Whitlow isn’t a missing person. Her family never looked for her. As for the daughter, Ember, there’s no record of her. She doesn’t exist.”
“She’s in a crib a few feet from me, asswipe. She exists.”
“Easy, Kraken. I’m just telling you what I’ve found. Phoebe’s father is a minister. The girl in bed with you is a preacher’s daughter, but the family spun some story about her going to live with family out of state.”
I looked over at Phoebe. “If she was snatched off the street, why would they say she’d left voluntarily?”
“Don’t know, but we need to find out.”
“Hold on,” I said, pressing the phone to my chest. I turned to Phoebe. “Is there a reason your family wouldn’t have looked for you?”
“I don’t know, unless Deuce threatened them or something. It never occurred to me he might know where I lived. I wasn’t near the house when he grabbed me. Are my parents okay? My little sister?”
I put the phone back to my ear. “The parents and sister okay?”
“Fine far as I can tell. Wait. There’s something else… The day after your woman’s family claimed she’d left to stay with relatives, her parents made a rather large deposit. Cash. Now where would a small-town preacher get several hundred thousand?” Wizard asked. “It’s not like the guy is some big-wig televangelist raking in millions.”
My gut clenched. He was right. There was no way Phoebe’s father would get his hands on that much money, unless it was a payout from a family member passing, or a payoff when his eldest daughter was brought here. They knew. Those sorry motherfuckers knew their daughter was with these bastards, and they’d sold her. Maybe not intentionally, but the end result was the same.
“Kraken, I don’t have to tell you how this looks,” Wizard said.
“No, you don’t. I think we know what happened, or at least partly. I won’t rest until I know for sure. They might be her family, but if they abandoned her when she needed them most, I will fucking end them.”
Phoebe tensed next to me, and I curved my arm around her so she wouldn’t bolt. I disconnected the call. I didn’t know what part Phoebe’s parents had played in her abduction, but she needed to know they’d stabbed her in the back. If I’d known the turn the conversation would take, I’d have stuck with text so she wouldn’t overhear.
“Baby girl, we need to talk.”
“No.” She shook her head. “My parents wouldn’t do that. They couldn’t know where I am. They’d never…”
“Phoebe, honey, your parents deposited several hundred thousand in cash after Deuce took you. Where would they have gotten the money?”
She seemed to deflate, anguish twisting her face as she crumpled against me. I held her, murmuring words of comfort. She’d been here for roughly a year, thinking her family loved her, missed her. Only to find out they might have very well sold her out to the evil bastards who had raped and hurt her.
“We can keep digging,” I said. “Find out the truth. If they plotted with Deuce for all this to happen to you… Do you want to know?”
“I need to,” Phoebe said. “All this time, I worried they would be scared, not knowing what happened to me. I don’t understand, Kraken. Why? Why would they do this to me?”
“Don’t know, baby, but Wizard will keep looking.”
Whatever it took, I’d get the truth for her. She needed closure. I couldn’t imagine her family selling her out. I might not know Phoebe, not really, but she was so damn sweet. How could someone throw her away? Give her to the demons who ran this club? We were leaving in the morning. I didn’t give a shit what Deuce said. If they tried to stop us, I’d kill every fucking one of them.
Chapter Three
Phoebe
My family had a part in everything I’d suffered. Even if it happened after the fact, they’d accepted money when Deuce took me, raped me. They knew where I was, they knew who had me, and they had left me here. There was no other explanation for the money they deposited. My father hadn’t even had the money to put a new roof on the church. It seemed his church was more important than my life. I stood next to Ember’s crib, rubbing her back. My sweet little angel. I couldn’t imagine ever selling her, or letting monsters keep her. What kind of people did that? Had they ever loved me?
I felt the heat of Kraken’s body behind me a moment before he placed his hands on my waist. I leaned back, taking the comfort he so willingly gave. The sun filtered through my only window. Morning had come, which meant we would be leaving. Or rather, Kraken was leaving and planned to take us with him, but I didn’t for a second think Deuce would let us go. He didn’t seem to care about Ember, except for the leverage she gave him. He used her to control me.
“You ready, baby girl?” he asked. “Got everything packed?”
“Only Ember’s stuff. I packed two changes of clothes but I don’t want anything else. It’s only a reminder of what I’ve endured at the hands of these bastards.”
“Fair enough. I’ll buy my girls all new stuff when we get home. I rode my bike here. The two of you going to be okay riding with Poison? He drove the truck parked outside, and I had him get a baby seat for Ember this morning. Brick is going to ride his Harley back. One of us will take the rear and the other will ride point.”
“Kraken, what if…” He placed a hand over my mouth.
“No, baby. Don’t even start. We’re walking out of here. All of us. And we’re doing it right the fuck now. Got me?”
I nodded. He let go and I reached into the crib, lifting Ember against me. I cradled her to my chest and followed Kraken to the door. He hefted the duffle filled with what little we were taking, and I saw one of his brothers in the hall. Brick was stitched on his cut. A tremor ran through me and I took a breath to steady myself. I slipped into the hallway behind Kraken and followed him to the main part of the clubhouse. I felt Brick’s presence behind me. I didn’t know where their third brother was, but I hoped he was safe.
The place looked deserted, which freaked me the hell out. I’d never seen it this cleared out before. There were a pair of motorcycle boots sticking out from under a table, and I realized one of the Sadistic Saints had passed out on the floor. My heart slammed against my ribs as we walked through the main area, and I hoped like hell the guy didn’t wake up.
We made it outside and still my fear didn’t ease. Something was wrong. It was too quiet. Deuce always had someone watching the place, keeping an eye on me. Why didn’t he now? He’d known I was with Kraken last night. Did he trust the Hades Abyss? If he did, was I making a mistake by going with them?
I saw their third club member in the truck waiting outside the doors. Kraken opened the rear door and stashed our duffle on the floorboard. He held out his hands. I passed him Ember and he eased her into the baby seat in back, fastening her in. Once he’d secured her in the seat, he shut the door and opened the front passenger side.